


Distant Early Warning

by crazylittleelf



Series: Ways and Means [7]
Category: Fringe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Death, Gen, Loss, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-19
Updated: 2009-05-20
Packaged: 2017-10-02 20:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/crazylittleelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Olivia lose someone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set when the characters are 16-ish.

It starts out as a dream.  Nick knows it's her dream not his; the colors are all wrong everything sounds like something else.  She's at the beach and there are stars on the surface of the ocean and she's playing connect the dots with them.  She can hear someone yelling behind her but she doesn't want to look, doesn't want to give up the stars but she turns and the dream shifts.  There's blood on the floor, streaks leading to another room and flames are already licking up the walls.  There's stark fear and panicked flight.  There's a familiar hand writing in blood on the wall and she reads the words before the explosion.  He's already awake and running to her room when she starts screaming.

Nina finds them huddled together on the floor in the corner of her bedroom.  He's lost track of time, thinks they're probably late to the morning training exercises.  They're a tangle of long, lean limbs and Olive is still whimpering a little when Nina gets there.  She sighs when she sits on the edge of Olive's bed.  She's been crying, too and the grief rolling off of her is stronger than anything he's ever felt from her.  She just sits with them for a while and when she finally speaks her voice is rough.

"Olive… I'm so very sorry learned of Dr. Bishop's death they way you did."  She's twisting the fingers of her real hand over her other hand.  
   
"Nick was there, too."  Her voice is small and distant.  "In the dream.  We saw him."

She looks at them and as sad as she is he can tell she's measuring them with familiar scrutiny.  "Did you see anyone else?"

She curls her fingers around his.  "No."

"Olive…Nick… was there anything unusual about what you saw?  Anything that could help us find who did this to him?"

She shakes her head and tightens her fingers around his.  He feels it then, the suggestion from her like when she takes the lead in a training simulation.  _Follow_, and he does.  "No, Nina."  When Nina looks at him he shakes his head, too.

Nina sighs again.  "I'm very sorry you won't be able to attend his funeral, Olive.  I know you were very fond of him.  He wanted to be buried where he grew up and we just can't travel to England right now."  She seems about to say something else but stands to leave instead.  She's halfway to the door when Olive asks.

"Nina?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What about Peter?"

Nina hesitates and he gets worry from her, tightly guarded but seeping out.  The grief is making her careless around them.  "That's still rather up in the air."

Olive frowns.  "Why?  Won't he be buried where Dr. Bishop is?"

Nina's mouth drops open for just a moment before she recovers.  "Olive…?"

"I think he should be even though he grew up here.  They should be together."  Tears well up and splash down her cheeks when she blinks. 

Nina looks close to tears now, too, dejected.  "Yes… that wold be best, wouldn't it?"  She continues to the door and sorrow flows like water behind her.  He waits until she's well away.

He frowns at her.  "Why'd you do that?"

"It's what Dr. Bishop wanted."

"But Olive… he didn't mean to protect Peter from her."

She shrugs and he knows it's not something she'll be able to explain.  She knows things sometimes, more than they're supposed to know.  He pulls her close and kisses her temple.  "Okay."

He can feel her building the walls, cutting Peter off as best she can, helping him hide.  He feels the last barrier go up and the gossamer threads that tie him to Peter through her go dim and they're alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set when the characters are 16-ish.

He was late.  Very late and Walter was going to be fucking fuming.  He'd skipped out of class early to check out David's new car, a vintage Firebird with a great body and shit for an engine and Peter was probably going to spend the rest of the year rebuilding the thing.  He'd passed on getting home in time for dinner to flirt with Angela instead, also a great body but she was vapid beyond imagining and he couldn't really put much enthusiasm into the production.  He'd missed curfew to hit up a party in Belmont that turned out to be a complete waste of time and he was cranky and tired and did not want to be yelled at by Walter.

He was a few blocks from home when the echos of pain and fear hit him, her voice screaming in his head.

He slammed on the breaks and sat panting for a moment.  He could see the glow from the fire and feel them waiting, feel her chanting _run run run_.  He put the car in reverse and whipped around, headed west looking for any sort of perimeter guard they might have put in place.  Traffic was almost nonexistent this early in the morning and he made the edge of the city in record time.  He scanned the road behind him in a nervous pattern.

He could feel the plan forming in her mind even as she sobbed against Nick, saw flashes of her dream and forced away the consuming grief that Walter's last act was to protect him.  His hand shook when he turned the radio on to provide background noise.  He debated leaving the interstate for smaller roads but decided he'd make better time this way.  For now.  Soon he'd have to ditch the fucking car, he'd be too easy to find in it.  Ditch the car, change directions, throw them off.  The training was kicking in, taking over.  He'd need cash and a couple stolen credit cards, another car, clothing.  He thought about going after the money in their accounts but it was too risky.  He just wasn't fucking prepared for this.

The sun was wheeling its way across the mid-morning sky when he felt there was enough distance and pulled off the road.

The rest stop was nearly empty.  A few trucks that hadn't moved out with the morning's arrival.  An old man walking a little dog.  He walked across the sparse grass to a table near the back of the clearing.  The dense wall of trees rustled in the light wind.  He sank to the bench and watched the parking lot, watched the cars pass and knew he'd be looking over his shoulder forever.

The wall was there now, like when she didn't want him to know something, like when they practiced keeping each other out.  It was stronger though, better and he knew she wasn't fucking around, that when she was done they'd never be able to use her to find him.  He loved her for protecting him, for lying for him and he hated her because she had Nick and he was alone.  For a brilliant second he could feel her so clearly, feel Nick behind her, then they were gone and he dropped his head to his hands and sobbed.


End file.
